I enjoyed being joined by more great guests this week when Southend band Stratus Rocks joined me live in the studio. As well as more fantastic conversation they were able to wheel in a bunch of their gear and play some songs live in the studio. After initially meeting over a disagreement over football, we heard about their musical evolution as Singer Lee and guitarist Stu kept the band going from its origins around 2007 to now with the latest members Alex on bass and Dan on drums. You can tell from the way they spoke about it that the band have been injected with a new lease of life and the creative contributions of Alex and Dan, along with being great musicians, will help push them into their next phase. Lee and Stuart also spoke about the ebb and flow of keeping the band going amidst what life can put in your way. I’m always interested to hear how bands and artists keep pursuing their passions despite having to work in realms which aren’t necessarily conducive to their creative side and how it has to be this way in this world.
The conversation continued with discussing the benefits of also having acoustic music to initially attract people that at first might not like heavy guitar riffs and also persisting with your form of expression after getting inspired by the artists and musicians who helped you get started. This led us onto some of the other music that I played tonight which have inspired them, including The Cult, The Doors, Kyuss and Alice In Chains. For example, Lee spoke of the feelings he had when he first heard Kyuss and the inspiration that gave him to want to give those feelings to others through his music. After I mentioned some of the other Southend bands I’ve had on the show recently such as Herida and White Devil’s Cause, they also spoke of the camaraderie between these bands in the town and we talked about their up and coming gig at Chinnery’s on Southend seafront on May the 3rd. You can check out the show for yourself again here:
Stratus Rocks – Musical Meanderings 26th February 2013 by Graham Stannard on Mixcloud
You can also find out more about them, including song downloads and other upcoming gigs via their links:
Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
I also took the opportunity to play Refrain by fellow Southend band Herida who will be playing at Chinnery’s this coming Saturday which you can find out more about here.
Here’s the playlist for 26th February (Albums in brackets)
1. Stratus Rocks – (Keep Your Hands Off) The Medicine
2. Superchunk – Crossed Wires (Majesty Shredding)
3. Kyuss – Isolation (Wretch)
4. Electric Love Hogs – Mr. Fun (Electric Love Hogs)
5. Alice In Chains – Down In A Hole (Dirt)
6. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary (Love)
7. Stratus Rocks – Give Me The Life (Live Phoenix FM Session)
8. Stratus Rocks – (Keep Your Hands Off) The Medicine (Live Phoenix FM Session)
9. The Doors – The Chageling (LA Woman)
10. Stratus Rocks – Bitch Of The Black Mountain (Live Phoenix FM Session)
11. Stratus Rocks – When You’re Lonely (Live Phoenix FM Session)
12. Stratus Rocks – Purgatory
13. Hüsker Dü – Could You Be The One? (Warehouse: Songs And Stories)
14. Herida – Refrain (Ghost Of The Sun)
15. PJ Harvey – Down By The Water (To Bring You My Love)
16. John Coltrane – Part II: Resolution (A Love Supreme)
